Session B17 — First Day at Revel's End

Summary

The party's first full day inside Revel's End — entirely roleplay, entirely reconnaissance. In their cover roles (Othorion as Dr. Goldfeather, Haldak as Chef Gamzee, Roland as medical staff), the group spreads through the prison and begins building a picture of its layout, its rhythms, and the people inside it. Haldak discovers a cache of shimmerleaf in the kitchen quartermaster's room. Othorion inventories the infirmary's medicine cabinet and establishes himself as the prison's physician. Kavu — operating with zero tactical subtlety and maximum cheerful wandering — explores virtually every accessible part of the facility, climbs the guard tower, and accidentally stumbles into the one Panopticon blind spot in the prison, where he meets Lireal (Prisoner 218): an aquatic elf from the Kingdom of Manan, imprisoned for treason, her composed surface barely concealing devastation. By the session's end, the party has gathered more intelligence than they had any right to and has a fully-formed plan: Operation Poison-a-Bitch — dose Prisoner 13's food tray during Haldak's personally-delivered dinner service to force her into the infirmary. The session closes before the plan executes. The warden visit, dinner service, and whatever comes after are next session's opening.

Key Events

Opening — Cover Identities in Place

The session opened with recap from B16's end: the party is established inside Revel's End under cover. During the warden's possession incident, Othorion had an unexpected confrontation with the warden. Prisoner 41 (Hayley) has been released into the party's custody per the warden's arrangement. Kelvin has departed to find his daughters; his player is now running Selene, the tiefling guide and former prisoner who has been shepherding the party north.

Cover roles at session open:

• Othorion — Dr. Goldfeather, infirmary physician
• Haldak — Chef Gamzee (Gorton Hamsey), kitchen staff
• Roland — medical support staff
• Kefkas — Robert Hidswell, civilian guide/traveller (not present this session — Ant Hills now playing Selene)

Shimmerleaf

Exploring the kitchen's quartermaster storage room, Haldak found shimmerleaf — a rare hallucinogenic herb that should not be in a prison kitchen. Selene identified it:

A small, carefully controlled dose produces clarity and a heightened sense of hope. A high dose produces surreal, destabilising visions.

Haldak pocketed it. The pass to the rest of the party via the mess hall was — by all accounts — not subtle, but it worked. The shimmerleaf is now in the party's possession.

Othorion's Infirmary Reconnaissance

Taking stock of the infirmary medicine cabinet, Othorion catalogued the following:

Othorion established himself with the prison medical routine and arranged for food delivery from the kitchen under cover of physician's orders — creating a legitimate channel for Haldak to move between the two.

Prison Layout Survey

Between Othorion's careful movement and a brief encounter with the locked storeroom area, Othorion mapped the ground floor's key connections: infirmary, kitchen, mess hall, guard rooms, and corridors. The locked room near what appeared to be the armory was not the armory — it contained prisoner effects crates and, apparently, an unknown aberrant creature: one large eye, tentacles, and teeth, locked inside with the confiscated property.

Infirmary Intel Exchange

Haldak delivered stew to the infirmary under cover and had a brief, whispered exchange with Othorion. Key intelligence passed:

• Prisoner 218 (Lireal) is housed adjacent to Prisoner 13
• Lireal can see through Othorion's cover — she knows he's not a real doctor
• A two-headed troll examination is scheduled for tomorrow (complicating the infirmary timeline)
• Prisoner 13 already had her monthly medical checkup this period — getting her back into the infirmary requires a different pretext

Guest Quarters — The Planning Session

The party gathered in their guest quarters with Selene to pool what they had learned. Selene filled in what she knew of the prison's routine:

• Meals: 6am and 5pm, delivered via food slot trays to cells
• Exercise: 1–2 hours of courtyard time; prisoners are searched entering and leaving
• Prisoner effects: confiscated on entry; stored in a locked room off the main corridor
• Escape route (Selene's knowledge): Bryn Shander via the Lonely Wood — the geography sketched out

The plan that emerged: poison Prisoner 13's food tray to sicken her badly enough to require infirmary treatment. Once she's in the infirmary — Othorion's territory — the party can approach her directly, access her tattoo, and proceed with their objective.

Operation Poison-a-Bitch — Formation

The slot tray delivery system was the central obstacle: trays are slid through cell slots by kitchen staff, making it difficult to target one prisoner's food specifically without being seen. The solution: Haldak personally delivers dinner. He approached the kitchen supervisor and secured permission.

Hyacinth was selected as the agent — reliable, available, and already in Othorion's infirmary. Horsetail was noted as a backup but deemed less predictable.

A secondary proposal was raised: include a written note in Prisoner 13's tray alongside the poison — something to signal the party's intentions. The note debate was not resolved cleanly. Haldak proposed writing it in Dwarvish. This was noted as a serious security risk — the warden speaks Dwarvish, and multiple kitchen and guard staff are dwarven.

Selene and Othorion — Infirmary Meeting

Kavu sent Selene as a go-between rather than visiting Othorion directly (limiting visible coordination). The resulting infirmary meeting between Selene and Othorion was one of the session's emotional high points. Selene arrived with warmth — calling Othorion "Dr. Beautiful" as she left — and the two discussed the plan, the risks, and what was personally at stake. The group at the table responded well to this moment.

The practical outcome: hyacinth confirmed as the plan's poison agent; the note question left open for the next session's resolution.

Kavu's Tour

While Othorion worked carefully and covertly, Kavu simply walked through every accessible part of the prison, smiled and waved at everyone he passed, and gathered more tactical information than the party's designated infiltrator.

His findings:

• Guard tower: 140 feet tall; accessible by ladder; locked hatch at the top. He climbed it.
• Storeroom: Six months' worth of supplies. No weapons.
• Courtyard: Located and observed. Exercise area confirmed.
• Elevator: Found the lever in the guard break room. Controls movement between floors.
• Floor layout (confirmed from a conversation with a guard near the barracks):
  • Ground floor: Cells, infirmary, kitchen, service areas, courtyard
  • Floor 2: Guard barracks
  • Floor 3: Warden's floor — Absolution Council chamber, warden's quarters and office
  • Floor 4: Airship reception
• Patrol pattern: At least four guards rove the inner hexagonal ring at all times. At a walking pace, they cover the full circuit in approximately four to five minutes — at most one minute of unobserved time in any given stretch.

"I love how Kavu just walked around the prison broad daylight, went through every single fucking door and did everything you did, Othorion, but not sneakily. And he got a lot more information."

Kavu Meets Lireal (Prisoner 218)

Wandering without any particular tactical awareness of sightlines, Kavu turned a corner and found himself in a Panopticon dead zone — a blind spot in the observation system. There, he encountered Lireal.

An aquatic elf. White hair. Orange eyes. A composed, polite smile that does not reach them — the kind of smile that hides devastation rather than joy.

Lireal is a refugee from the Kingdom of Manan — one of the survivors of the attack on Neverwinter that the party has heard reference to. She was convicted of treason against the kingdom of Manan and sentenced to Revel's End. She did not volunteer more.

Kavu offered to look for her people in Neverwinter. He then preached Kossuth. She listened.

As he was leaving the area, Kavu spotted Nezznar (Prisoner 243) in a nearby section of the Panopticon. He waved at him cheerfully.

"He bumblefucked his way into the blind zone." — DM

Othorion's Coded Note to Kefkas

Othorion composed a message to Kefkas (Robert Hidswell) summarising everything he had learned inside the prison — written as a linguist cipher in Elvish. The note was passed to Kefkas via Selene as intermediary.

Complication: Othorion never taught Kefkas the cipher. Kefkas will need to break it before the contents are accessible.

Session End

The DM closed the session:

"Did everybody enjoy themselves during this entirely roleplay session where you guys bumblefucked around a prison and tried to figure out what you were going to do?"

Next session will open with the deferred warden visit — Othorion and Roland presenting themselves as the new medical staff — followed by dinner service, at which point Haldak delivers food and attempts to dose Prisoner 13's tray with hyacinth.

NPCs Encountered

Loot / Discoveries

Threads Opened / Advanced

• Operation Poison-a-Bitch: Plan fully formed. Hyacinth selected as agent. Haldak has dinner delivery permission. Executes next session.
• Prisoner 13 — written note: Whether to include a note (and in what language) is unresolved. Dwarvish is insecure — the warden reads it, multiple staff are dwarven.
• Lireal (Prisoner 218): Met by Kavu in the Panopticon blind spot. Aquatic elf, Manan refugee, convicted of treason. Knows Othorion is not a real doctor. Now aware the party is present.
• Nezznar (Prisoner 243): Located. Kavu waved. No exchange yet. His presence in the prison is confirmed firsthand.
• Othorion's cipher to Kefkas: Passed via Selene. Kefkas must break it. Contents = everything Othorion has observed. If intercepted, it's a complete intelligence map.
• Warden visit: Postponed from B16's possession incident. Othorion and Roland have not yet formally introduced themselves to the warden. Scheduled for B18 opening.
• Unknown aberrant creature: Locked in the prisoner effects storeroom. Not engaged, not identified.
• Escape route: Selene has sketched a route via the Lonely Wood to Bryn Shander. Not yet finalised.
• Shimmerleaf: In party possession. Properties known. No immediate use planned.